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Chapter 11
“Huh? That can’t be true. Why would I have any reason to be wary of Your Majesty?”
Startled, I denied it at once. I had never lived in a class-based society before, but even I knew that openly antagonizing the emperor in an empire was not a wise way to survive.
But the emperor pressed me further, staring at me coldly as I failed to completely hide my panic.
“Then why are you acting so awkwardly today? Don’t you think Count Miller’s attitude is far too different from usual?”
My heart skipped a beat. So that was it. Since I didn’t know how Anise normally treated the emperor, I had simply tried to be careful, but that caution had apparently made me stand out even more. The protagonists had always emphasized how close Anise and the emperor were, so maybe Anise had usually treated him very casually.
“…Ever since I got sick, my stamina has dropped a lot. I’ve been on edge ever since then, so I’ve been rather exhausted.”
I desperately made excuses. After hearing my answer, the emperor twitched his brow slightly before asking,
“You must have had a pretty severe cold.”
“A cold?”
A cold? What cold? I had never had one. At the unexpected remark, I blinked in confusion, and the emperor looked at me with clear displeasure. His gaze made me flustered.
Staring straight through me, the emperor spoke bluntly.
“I was told that after you fell into the lake while playing in the water, you came down with a terrible cold and were bedridden for a while.”
He knew I had been sick? Then why hadn’t he contacted me even once? Something surged up inside me, but I calmed myself and answered evenly.
“It’s true that I nearly died after falling into the water, but I never suffered from a cold.”
“What do you mean, nearly died?”
The emperor shot the question back at me while glaring fiercely at his secretary. I saw the secretary visibly startle. Stammering, he hurried to defend himself.
“…T-there was no such report, Your Majesty.”
“Then it is your responsibility to find out why such a report never reached me. Once we return to the imperial palace, I will hold you accountable.”
Reading the emperor’s fury, the secretary’s face turned pale as he lowered his head.
“I-I will investigate the matter thoroughly…”
Watching the deathly pale secretary, I frowned slightly.
Did the emperor truly not know about Anise’s crisis? Or was he simply pretending so he could shift the blame for his lack of contact onto his subordinates?
“Then Count, if you are not wary of me, why insist on personally going to the kitchen to fetch water yourself?”
The emperor questioned me again, leaving me in a difficult position.
I didn’t want to mention the poisoned cup. If the emperor concluded that Lana was the culprit, I wouldn’t be able to save her. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be left here alone without Davin.
As I hesitated without answering, Davin—who had silently stood behind me the entire time—stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, earlier there was poison in the drink Lady Anise was about to consume. I believe she wished to confirm things personally. If Your Majesty were poisoned, it would be disastrous.”
I whipped around in shock at Davin’s honest explanation. When our eyes met, he shook his head slightly, as if telling me that we couldn’t hide everything that had happened to me.
The emperor’s expression grew even harsher after hearing Davin’s explanation.
“There was poison in the drink?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The situation is complicated enough that we cannot identify the culprit yet. Lady Anise, may I explain the situation to His Majesty?”
“Hm? O-okay…”
Since Davin avoided mentioning Lana and merely said the culprit could not yet be identified, I decided to trust him and nodded.
More than anything, the emperor’s sharp gaze as he studied me felt burdensome. In a situation where the emperor himself might even be allied with our enemies, I had no intention of revealing that I had lost my memories. But pretending to remember everything in front of someone who knew the previous Anise well was not easy either.
In a calm, measured tone, Davin began explaining to the emperor what had happened, starting with the accident at the lake.
“Lady Anise fell into the lake on August 2nd. That day, a maid named Lana Hayden discovered her unconscious in the water and pulled her out. Fortunately, after emergency treatment, her breathing—which had stopped—soon returned.”
The emperor interrogated Davin angrily.
“A maid pulled her out of the water? What were the escort knights doing while the Count was left in such danger?!”
Coming from someone who hadn’t contacted us even once, his criticism of Davin filled me with resentment. But Davin, apparently pained by the memory of that day, pressed his lips tightly together before answering.
“The knights assigned to escort Lady Anise had temporarily left their posts. They were all dismissed from the household for failing in their duties.”
Hearing this, the emperor pressed further in disbelief.
“Aren’t you the captain of the Count’s knights? Where were you, the one responsible for her protection, and what were you doing at the time?”
“…I was on leave that day. At that hour, I was at the imperial palace attending an interview to join the Imperial Knights.”
Davin hesitated briefly before replying quietly. My eyes widened in shock at the revelation, but he avoided meeting my gaze. The emperor repeated the words incredulously.
“An interview for the Imperial Knights?”
I too sat there stunned, blinking blankly.
Davin, who later destroyed the imperial palace in the original story… had once wanted to become an imperial knight?
That had never been mentioned in the original novel.
While I was internally reeling from the shock, the emperor turned to Joshua, who stood nearby, and asked for confirmation.
“Sir Joshua, is what this man says true?”
“Yes. On August 2nd, there was indeed an Imperial Knights interview, and he attended.”
“…”
The emperor glared at Davin with widened eyes, while Davin calmly endured the stare. Soon, the emperor let out a short incredulous laugh and nodded.
“Fine. Continue. What happened after that?”
“Although she was pulled from the lake, Lady Anise remained unconscious for quite some time. Then we discovered that someone was trying to kill her.”
“How did you discover that?”
“To prevent Lady Anise from becoming dehydrated, we regularly gave her water. But we noticed that the silver decoration engraved on the cup had turned black from poison.”
Bang!
At Davin’s words, the emperor slammed his palm onto the table and shouted,
“Why was the imperial palace not informed about such a matter?!”
“We continuously sent messengers to the palace to report the situation, but every single one of them disappeared.”
At Davin’s explanation, the expressions of the emperor, his secretary, and the imperial knights all stiffened. The atmosphere turned grave at the mention of missing messengers, and Davin continued speaking.
“The situation was critical, so I could not leave Lady Anise’s side. Since people kept disappearing, I judged that personally escorting her along that road was also unsafe. After that, there were six separate poisoning attempts and six intrusions into the estate by assassins. Meanwhile, the servants all quit, leaving no one else to send to the palace.”
The emperor mulled over Davin’s words before tilting his head slightly and asking,
“So you’re saying you protected Count Miller alone all this time?”
“Yes. Since no other knights remained, there was no other choice. Two knights were expelled for failing to protect Lady Anise, and two others disappeared after being sent to the imperial palace. Since then, I alone have guarded this place.”
After hearing Davin’s answer, the emperor asked again with disbelief written across his face.
“You protected the Count by yourself for over two weeks? Without even rotating shifts?”
“Yes.”
Only then did I finally realize something, and I stared at Davin in shock.
Come to think of it, Davin had always been nearby no matter when I looked.
“Wait… doesn’t that mean Davin has been overworking himself this entire time?”
